Love, War, and Android Babies
by ImpudentMiscegenation
Summary: An interstellar transit portal malfunctions, sending a cargo vessel almost fifty years into the past, where the occupants are found by the USS Enterprise-D. Lackluster summary is lackluster. (T rating to be safe, and also for cussing.)
1. Prologue

**DISCLAIMER:**

**I, Impudent Miscegenation, of Fanfiction (dot net), do not own or have any affiliation with the creators of ****Star** **Trek****. All rights respectfully go to Gene Roddenberry. I don't gain material profit from my works featured here, I write for my own amusement.**

* * *

_**Full Summary: An interstellar transit portal malfunctions, sending a cargo vessel almost fifty years into the past, where the occupants are found by the USS Enterprise-D.**_

**Author's Notes: My first Star Trek fanfiction! Most of the events of this chapter take place about 47 years post the end of season 7, in the year 2417. I'm gonna ignore the movies, minus the existence of B-4. Now, the prologue, at least the first few scenes, will probably be a bit confusing but I want to minimize this as much as I can. Also, everything **_**should **_**start to make sense the further we go. Lastly, dates are listed as DD/MM/YYYY, as opposed to the month being first. Engage!**

* * *

Love, War, and Android Babies

_Prologue_

* * *

_Open folder _S-T-A_98847.x _? Y/N_

_Displaying files: 25635-D, __25636-L__, 25637-L, 25730-A, 25831-A, 25832-E, 25833-E_

_Open profile #25831-A? Y/N_

_Profile on screen._

_Profile #25831-A_

_Subject Name: Ariwyn_

_Race: Artificial Intelligence; Class: Android_

_Primary Activation Date: 12/12/2399_

_Status: Independent, Starfleet Cadet, Medical Student_

_Assignment: Starfleet Medical: Year 2, Semester 2_

_Appearance: Humanoid. Retractable pair of wing-like appendages: span of 57 cm.; Height: 170 cm; Weight: 68 kg; Skin: White-Silver; Eyes: Gold-Green; Hair: Brown._

_File_25831A01c_

_Known Relations: Data (Father)[link], Avrylaine (Mother)[link], Elian (Brother)[link], Evalyn (Sister)[link], B-4 (Paternal Uncle)[link],__ Lal (Sister-deactivated)[link],__ Lore (Paternal Uncle-deactivated)[link], Ravyranos (Maternal Uncle-deactivated)_

_Open profile #25832-E? Y/N_

_Profile on screen._

_Profile #25832-E_

_Subject Name: Elian_

_Race: Artificial Intelligence; Class: Android_

_Primary Activation Date: 19/07/2402_

_Status: Independent, Licensed Trader/Courier_

_Assignment: Unknown_

_Appearance: Humanoid; Height: 190.5 cm; Weight: 93 kg; Skin: White-Gold; Eyes: Green; Hair: Red._

_File_25832E01s_

_Known Relations: Data (Father)[link], Avrylaine (Mother)[link], Ariwyn (Sister)[link], Evalyn (Sister)[link], B-4 (Paternal Uncle)[link], Lal (Sister-deactivated)[link], Lore (Paternal Uncle-deactivated)[link], Ravyranos (Maternal Uncle-deactivated)_

_Open profile #25833-E? Y/N_

_Profile on screen._

_Profile # 25833-E_

_Subject Name: Evalyn_

_Race: Artificial Intelligence; Class: Android_

_Primary Activation Date: 04/03/2414_

_Status: Dependent_

_Assignment: N/A_

_Appearance: Humanoid. Additional, retractable pair of wing-like appendages span unknown; Height: 90 cm; Weight: 15 kg; Skin: White-Silver; Eyes: Gold; Hair: Red-Brown._

_No Photograph Available_

_Known Relations: Data (Father)[link], Avrylaine (Mother)[link], Elian (Brother)[link], Ariwyn (Sister)[link], B-4 (Paternal Uncle)[link],__ Lal (Sister-deactivated)[link],__ Lore (Paternal Uncle-deactivated)[link], Ravyranos (Maternal Uncle-deactivated)_

* * *

Vrax drummed his fingers as he looked over the profiles on his PADD.

"Tell me, Kossithis, why are we bothering with machines now? I assumed that this… 'power play' within the Federation would lead us to toy with the, ah, _humans_." Kossithis, a Kzinti male who had been preoccupied navigating the vessel the two were currently occupying, turned his attention to his partner, also a Kzin.

"Do you realize who _parented_ these machines? Of course you do, the information is right there." Kossithis sighed and shook his head. "Captain Data Soong, of the _USS Leeds_, is a respected voice within Starfleet, there have been many seeking his council during his nigh 35 year tenure. There are those within the Federation, and Starfleet itself, that take issue with that fact." Vrax wrinkled his nose.

"So, what, deactivate his spawn and somehow-"

"We aren't going to deactivate them; well, not permanently, in any case. If you had cared to read our missive, you'd see that we're simply… changing their route. Truly, we have the easy job. There are others who will do the more aggressive task of seeing that the androids comply, and to _temporarily_ deactivate them if need be. There's a switch on every one of them, somewhere; it was Xannid's job to find out where and use that to our advantage."

"Where is Xannid now?" Kossithis grinned.

"He's shadowing their vessel; when they reach the Beta quadrant transit portal, Xannid will disable the droids and transport onto their vessel, perhaps in that order and perhaps not. At that point, we are to use this," Kossithis held up a small, flat metal device that beeped and flashed with a green light, "on the portal, which will change the exit site from the Alpha quadrant to the Gamma quadrant. Then, our job is done and we can celebrate with a hefty pay day." Kossithis shrugged his shoulders.

Vrax took the beeping and flashing device from his partner.

"Right, now how are we supposed to get this thing on the transit portal?" Kossithis chuckled.

"'We'? Oh no, _you _have the honor of getting that thing on there. _I'm _the pilot." Vrax growled low in his throat.

"I'm not a scientist, Kossithis, I'm don't deal with technology; I'm far better at hitting things." Kossithis rolled his eyes.

"Yes, yes, we all know you're merely a brute, but try to stretch that brain of yours, now." Vrax growled again, in warning, which Kossithis paid no heed to. "Look, it's so simple a child could be trusted with this. All you need to do is find the little metal slats on the right-hand side of the portal and slide this little guy in. The mechanism burns out after one use, so you have to time it right and make sure we get _their _vessel. I'll activate it when I get the signal from Xannid. We'll be in communication, so you really can't _possibly_ fuck it up, despite your IQ level. Ah, and be sure to grab the disk after they go through the portal; loose ends and all." Vrax grunted, unamused, and pocketed the device.

"What do they even want with the little fish? Wouldn't it be easier to just deactivate the one they want to be rid of?" Kossithis rolled his eyes and heaved a heavy sigh.

"Oh, poor, dear Vrax, you really are dim. They don't want him dead, nor his children; they simply desire for him to be… out of the way for a little while, during which the powers within the Federation are due to make a significant shift, which will give the Dominion the chance it needs to infiltrate their ranks. If they permanently deactivate him, Starfleet would be leery, on-edge, looking too carefully at everyone, same premise as permanently deactivating the younger ones. No, what the Dominion needs is a distraction so that the Captain isn't prying; what better method than ransoming his little droids?" Vrax nodded in understanding.

"So… they're going through all this trouble just to hold these droids for ransom and then give them back?" Kossithis hummed and shook his head.

"Now, I never said _that_."

* * *

"Computer, record audio message and transmit to Federation Starship _USS Leeds _registry NCC-70352, to Captain Data Soong; security code 4258332, personal message priority level 2, subject: late arrival." Ariwyn was settled comfortably on the passenger side of the small cargo vessel her younger brother, Elian, was piloting. Her youngest sibling, Evalyn, squirmed excitedly in her lap. Though they weren't yet close enough to communicate via the viewscreen, the idea that they were able to send their father a message was enough for the tiny android to become restless. While Ariwyn was sure that Evalyn had enjoyed the weekend spent with her grown siblings, it made sense that she would now long to return to their parents. And home.

"_Acknowledged. Recording_." Before Ariwyn could speak, Evalyn piped up.

"Daddy!" Ariwyn chuckled.

"Yes, little dove. Father, Elian believes that we may arrive later than we had earlier stated, due to the formation of severe electromagnetic disturbances. We had to alter our flight path to avoid them; we estimate that we will reach the shuttle rendezvous location at approximately 22:00 hours tonight."

"No bedtime." Evalyn warbled in satisfaction and Elian snickered from the controls. "Want… Mummy and Daddy." The little android added, tone changing slightly.

"You'll be seeing 'em real soon, Evvy." Elian supplied, and Ariwyn jostled her arms comfortingly.

"Indeed. Computer, end transmission." The computer blipped in acknowledgement.

"_Transmission sent successfully_."

Elian glanced to his sisters.

"We'll reach the Beta I transit portal in about twelve minutes, Evvy, by then you'll need to be in the back, buckled into your safety seat." The smallest frowned.

"Why?" Evalyn queried, tilting her head.

"Regulation for usage of the transit portal; you're small enough to be thrashed around the cabin if you're up and about. Besides, inertial dampers can only do so much for a vessel this size." Elian informed his younger sister, slapping the side of his console as if to emphasize his point. The action earned him a smile from his younger sister and a raised brow from his elder sister. "Besides, even though we're delayed in bringing you home, Wyn _and _I think it would be best for you to shut down for a little while; allow yourself to rest after having been off-routine for the weekend. Best place for that is your seat, Ev." He ruffled a large hand through her auburn hair, earning a small chirruping noise from the developing android. She began to protest more vigorously about being separated from her siblings as Ariwyn moved towards the rear of the vessel to buckle the toddler-sized android into the safety seat Elian mentioned, said protests being soundly ignored by the elder android.

With Evalyn displaced and placated (for the moment) with an activity sphere, Ariwyn resumed her seat in the cockpit with her younger brother, who gave her a sideways look.

"Are you sure it's _wise_ to have some Lieutenant bring her the rest of the way, rather than simply bringing her home ourselves?" Ariwyn shook her head.

"Lieutenant Greely is a trusted member of the Leeds crew, and is returning from shore leave. The timing is fortuitous, as it is necessary for me to return to-"

"Yeah, yeah, fine. You need to get back to your worthless classes, _early_."

"I find worth in earning myself a medical degree and so does our father." Ariwyn stated tonelessly and Elian made a disgruntled sound that clearly indicated his disagreement, but said no more on the subject.

"Degree aside, are you being treated well enough?"

"My experience has been a good one thus far. I have met a good number of students whose company I enjoy. I look forward to returning to them." Elian bobbed his head once in acknowledgement.

"Well, good. 'Cause I'd hate to have to pick you up and take you smuggling with me to get away from Starfleet." Ariwyn's gaze snapped to her brother.

"You smuggle?" Her tone was deadly. Elian laughed loudly.

"The look on your face! Oh, that was priceless. I didn't think you'd buy it!" Ariwyn sat back and looked away from her guffawing brother.

"Should you not feel insulted that I find such a career choice… believable with regard to you?" Elian shrugged.

"Eh, it's wha-" His sentence was cut off by the sound of a loud alarm going off in the cabin, causing his attention to shift from the idle conversation to his console.

Not but a moment after the initial alarm, the sound of a transporter beam was nearly drowned out. Both of them turned. A massive, hooded figure, dressed in a charcoal black metal outfit and carrying a phaser-like weapon unlike any either had seen before. Elian's first thought was to securing their youngest sibling. Problem. His computer was unresponsive. Ariwyn stood in an attempt to disable the intruder, who drew his weapon and fired, landing a small, star-shaped dart just behind Ariwyn's right ear. The dart landed on the area over her activation switch and she slumped to the floor, eyes wide open and unseeing.

"_Ariwyn_!" Elian cried out, dodging a dart that was sent his way, jumping away from his console. "The _fuck _are you doing?! Who do you work for?!" Another shot, Elian dove to the floor and then leapt forward, out of reach. The intruder had reversed their steps, appearing to be reloading their weapon. Immediately, he took in everything he could for information, hoping to find a way of quickly disabling the mystery brute. There wasn't much to be had; male, humanoid, 234 cm in height, affiliation unknown, weaponry unknown. Elian cursed and opened the access panel on his left wrist, punching in a quick code in the amount of time it took for the intruder to fire another shot in his direction, a shot which barely missed its intended target.

"_Life support termination in 5 seconds._"

Elian heard a muffled curse and wasted no time in moving to wrestle the weapon away from the unknown figure. When Elian's hand clasped around the intruder's wrist, there was a satisfying snap (and a strangled gasp from the unknown male), but the weapon had fired once more, sending a dart into Elian's chest. Elian _felt it_. His bioplast was burning, melting, the sensors embedded within melding together and subsequently shattering with the forceful energy being emanated by the device. It wouldn't reach his fluid-pumping mechanics, but there was a chance that some of the main hydraulic connections from his torso to his right arm would be damaged if the weapon continued to displace the amount of energy it has been.

Ripping static tore through the male android, and he couldn't stop the metallic shrieking that left his vocal synthesizer. Elian dropped to his knees, using the mental facilities he still had, despite the unknown (bullet? dart?) weapon having made it much harder to think, to grip the stranger's leg. The man had already switched the weapon he had been holding into his other hand.

"_Life support termination in 3 seconds_." Elian clamped his hand down, breaking the intruder's leg, who howled in agony and fell against the side of the ship, unbalanced. The damage soothed the fire in his emotional response program, but the petty action served no purpose. The weapon fired once more, this time landing in the exact spot that Ariwyn had been shot in. The metallic shrieking stopped and Elian went limp on the floor.

The figure groaned in pain and pressed a button on his shoulder as the vessel darted into the portal.

"_Life support has terminated_." The intruder slid down the wall he'd leaned on for support, dead before his body stopped moving.

* * *

When the little ship was approaching the portal, Kossithis slapped his communication button.

"Put it in, now!" Vrax, who had been absently waiting for a signal, nearly dropped the device in shock when Kossithis' loud voice rang in his ears. Cursing, he fumbled with the device before catching it.

Then subsequently noticing that, during his fumbling, the lights started blinking _blue _and not green. Vrax winced. That was… probably fine, right? Without more delay, Vrax slid the device in between the metal slats on the side of the portal where Kossithis had told him to.

"It's in!" Vrax told his partner, who waited until the cargo vessel had slipped into the portal before pressing a button, which subsequently detonated in the portal. There was a large explosion, and Kossithis' jaw dropped.

_That_… that was not supposed to have happened.

Gulping, Kossithis turned his cloaked vessel and sped away at full impulse. There was no telling what the Dominion may do once they found out that their bargaining chips were destroyed. Kossithis was damned if he would stick around to find out, either. He supposed he could blame it all on Vrax, who was definitely dead now. Even still, that would likely do nothing to quench the Dominion's bloodlust once word of this bungled mission reached the ears it needed to.

"Ohh, not good not good not good." Kossithis muttered to himself as he initiated his warp drive, seeking to put as much distance between himself and the Dominion as was possible.

Vrax, Xannid, and the droids might be dead, but he was still alive for now. And he intended to stay that way.

* * *

**Well, that was the prologue. Oof, cliffhanger. Let me know if you think this is worth pursuing. I might continue it anyway. Don't forget to drop a review! Toodles!**

**~IM**


	2. Act I Part I

**DISCLAIMER:**

**I, Impudent Miscegenation, of Fanfiction (dot net), do not own or have any affiliation with the creators of ****Star** **Trek****. All rights respectfully go to Gene Roddenberry. I don't gain material profit from my works featured here, I write for my own amusement.**

* * *

_**Full Summary: An interstellar transit portal malfunctions, sending a cargo vessel almost fifty years into the past, where the occupants are found by the USS Enterprise-D.**_

**Author's Notes: The events of this chapter, and the story from here on diverges from canon just before Descent (s6e25). No more notes! Engage!**

* * *

Love, War, and Android Babies

_Act_ _I__, __Part_ _I_

* * *

Evalyn, still strapped securely into her seat, lifted her head and took in her surroundings. There were no lights, no sounds.

_No sounds_. Evalyn tilted her head when she realized she couldn't hear the sounds of her elder siblings. They were gone? Or shut down, but they didn't have the need to do that. Likely gone. They would come back. She was sure of it.

The window in the seating bay, where she was, indicated that the engines were not propelling them, yet they were moving. Slowly, rotating. Adrift. Evalyn shifted her focus. Twisted metal, broken glass… The bay and adjacent corridor looked as though a tornado had swept through. Illogical. A fight? Unlikely; aside from herself, only Wyn and Ellie had been on the vessel. They would not try to damage each other. Nor would either try to damage the ship. Evalyn feebly tried to process the possible explanations for the state of the room while also accessing her last memory record.

She had been… playing her activity sphere, gotten a message which notified her system to begin a shut down, and obeyed it; she had been advised by her older siblings to do so. Nothing at the time suggested the current state of the room.

Time. Evalyn tilted her head when the first attempt to access her internal chronometer failed. Abort associated programs. Re-initialize. Failure. The 3-year-old frowned. Run self-diagnostic programming.

**Error: TPXS001-01** A list of affected programs and systems followed. Internal chronometer inaccessible.

She didn't know what time it was, how long she had been inactive for, or when she should expect to see her mummy and daddy; the countdown she'd set had been interrupted and aborted as a result of her timebase failure.

Evalyn's eyes darted up and down, left and right, as she sifted through known error codes, not finding any with the prefix TPXS. A new error code; this was bad. She knew it was _bad_, though not much else. One of her parents surely would know about error TPXS001-01. She wanted to go home. Home was where she could be fixed. Home was where her parents were waiting for her.

Her autonomous emotional response programs were operating properly, at least. Evalyn started to cry.

* * *

"Now entering the Icor system, Captain."

"Acknowledged, Ensign, bring us to one-quarter impulse."

"Aye, sir." Captain Picard crossed one leg over the other as the ship drew closer to where their sensors first picked up anomalous readings in this region of space.

"Lieutenant Worf, perform a long range scan of the system, see if the anomaly has left anything behind for us." Worf grunted and nodded.

"Yes, sir… Scans have found no trace of the anomaly, nor any residual energy signature. Sensors _have_ located an adrift vessel, approximately 1.73 lightyears from our position." Picard's brow furrowed.

"Curious. Take us closer, Ensign. Gently." The ship crept closer until they were within range to take a more detailed scan. Counselor Troi stood, eyes fixated on the screen.

"Captain, I can sense something; it's not very strong, but… It feels like a child. Alone, confused, and terrified." Data glanced toward the view screen from his position.

"Sensors do not pick up any life signs. Engines and life-support are inoperable. Further scans will be necessary to discern anything else about the vessel; it is unlike any previously encountered." Captain Picard nodded and turned to Commander Will Riker.

"Number One, I want you to take an away team over there; be on your guard." Standing, Riker nodded.

"Will do, sir. Data, you're with me. Counselor." The two officers followed Commander Riker into the turbo-lift.

* * *

After an indiscernible amount of time, Evalyn's tears stuttered to a halt. She wasn't getting an answer, even as she called again and again and again for help. Then, she couldn't tell how long she'd been calling. It could have been less than a minute or over the course of several hours, she had no way of knowing.

Rubbing the remnants of her lubrication fluid from her eyes, Evalyn found that she was ill-equipped to proceed. There was no way for her to press the release mechanism on the seat; it was too far out of reach.

The sadness didn't leave, but its impact lessened as fear grew.

She was trapped, alone, and couldn't tell the time. There were no immediate solutions to her predicament without help. Her cries _for _help went unanswered.

Anxiety. Fear. Confusion. Sadness. Loneliness. Frustration. While her emotional response program processed the situation, Evalyn whined loudly. New emotional state combination detected. Further analysis required. The little one shook her head wildly, as though she could shake off any undesired thoughts. She couldn't analyze her other functions right now, she had to get out of her seat and find her siblings! But she couldn't! She needed to! Maybe they were damaged. Unlikely? Unknown. **Alert**: body temperature increase by 0.5 degrees. Internal body temperature now 37.5°C. _Anxiety_.

Her hands started to shake, so she curled them into fists. Her legs trembled. Her neck twitched once, twice. **Alert**: body temperature increase by 0.5 degrees. Internal body temperature now 38.0°C. Her respirations increased in a vain attempt to cool her inner workings.

Sound. A transporter beam? Relevant? She still could not hear her siblings, but heard something else. Daddy? The sound was different. **Alert**: body temperature increase by 0.5 degrees. Internal body temperature now 38.5°C. **Alert**: protective shutdown imminent.

Evalyn whimpered at the trilling of her internal alarms, again picking up her respiratory rate to compensate for her rising temperature.

"It's coming from in here." The voice was familiar, yet different. Female. Auntie? **Alert**: body temperature increase by 0.5 degrees. Internal body temperature now 39.0°C. **Alert**: protective shutdown imminent. Evalyn's head turned to the doorway to see three figures enter the room.

Relief came and then wavered. She knew them all, yet they were unfamiliar in an inexplicable way. Her eyes set on the face she had seen nearly every day since her primary activation, but something was wrong. He didn't sound the same in her head and his face was… different? Slightly. Less crinkled around his eyes? She couldn't tell for certain, which unnerved her further. **Alert**: body temperature increase by 1.0 degrees. Internal body temperature now 40.0°C. **Alert**: internal body temperature exceeding normal operation parameters. **Alert**: protective shutdown imminent.

Too many alerts with bad things; Evalyn didn't like it.

She could recognize Captain Riker (he liked it when she called him Uncle Will) and his wife the counselor (Auntie!). They were dressed in strange suits; she had seen them before, it was for when humans went to places that were dangerous for them to be. Was Ellie's ship dangerous? Her eyes remained set on the pair of gold eyes that matched hers. Seeing her father, wearing a yellow uniform with missing rank pips, was too much for Evalyn's taxed systems to begin processing. **Alert**: protective shutdown in progress. She stopped shaking, but could no longer move her limbs. The little android's eyes got wider and she tilted her head.

"Daddy… I don't know the time." Her trembling, high-pitched voice had an unmistakable tinny whine; it sounded mechanical, and malfunctioning at that.

Deanna gasped when the child's eyes shut and she fell forward, held in place by the restraining seat. The emotions she had been sensing from the child (fear, confusion, relief, worry) cut off suddenly. The three officers tentatively approached.

"Did she just… What?" Riker glanced between Data and the unknown child. Data offered no explanation nor answer to the quasi-question, taking a moment to study the small form in front of them.

Chin-length dark auburn curls were held away from her face with a pair of white barrettes, pinned at her temples. Her silvery-white skin was covered by a set of pink footed pajamas decorated with a purple floral pattern. Rosy copper-colored lips were slightly parted with her relaxed expression. Though her eyes were now closed, Data had seen them; a shade of honey gold that matched his own _identically_. Her proportions matched that of a child between the ages of 2 and 4. Data opened his tricorder and began scanning.

"This is… I do not understand." He murmured, looking down at his readings. Deanna frowned.

"What's wrong, Data?" Data paused and shook his head.

"I… This child is not an organic life form. The tricorder is reading a positronic signal aside from my own, though the signal itself is weak." He ran the device along the little girl's form. "Duranium, neutronium, bioplast sheeting, unknown metallic elements. It appears that this child is… An android." Data's voice took on a softer, confused tone at the last two words. His face was contorted in utter bewilderment. Riker blinked at the new information.

"Oh." Was the only response that came to mind. "... We should get her back to the ship. Mister Data, it seems you're… the best equipped to carry out that task. Deanna and I will look around some more here, see if we can't get a better idea of what we're dealing with." He addressed his fellow officer, gesturing to the child. Data nodded and put the tricorder away. He leaned forward, reaching behind the seat to press the release mechanism. The straps holding the little android in place retracted into the sides of the seat and the girl slumped forward, being deftly caught by a pair of large hands.

Data carefully set the child against his hip. Even though he couldn't feel emotions, Data found himself with an intense, burning curiosity. He idly wondered if his tricorder readings were accurate; he had to admit, if they _were _accurate… Data glanced at the tiny body tucked away comfortably in his arm, still unresponsive. He pressed his combadge.

"Data to Enterprise. Two to transport to Engineering." The shimmering beam engulfed them and they were whisked away from the small vessel.

The only thing left in the bay to make note of was a little, metallic sphere about the size of a softball. It was decorated with lights, though they were off. With nothing else of interest in that area, Riker and Troi explored other parts of the ship.

Along the corridor leading to the front of the ship, the two noticed a small, pink backpack lying propped against the wall.

"I bet that belongs to… the kid." Will noted, lifting the surprisingly heavy bag and slinging it over his shoulder.

Reaching the cockpit, they found three figures; all of which appeared lifeless. When Will had attempted to scan any of them with a tricorder, his screen fritzed and glitched until he moved it away. Going by appearances only, then. There was a female humanoid similar in appearance to the child, found next to one of two consoles at the front of the ship. Oddly, she was wearing what _appeared_ to be a Starfleet Medical student's uniform. Though it certainly wasn't traditional, it seemed. The sleeves were gray, leading to gray lines traveling down the sides of the torso and stopping at the waist, where the pants were black. The rank pips, indicating a cadet's status, were slightly different, looking more like rounded triangles than the traditional rounded rectangular shape. Towards the rear of the cockpit, a male humanoid, face-down in civilian clothing (a forest green tunic with dark gray slacks) lay closer to the third figure, a curly mop of dark red hair obscured his face. The third body was another male, a Kzin, and _definitely_ dead; his partially-hooded face was pocked with decomposition. He was dressed in all black, parts of which looked metal; armor? Deanna frowned when she noticed a metal seven-sided star attached to the female's neck, just behind her ear.

"Will, have you ever seen anything like this before?" Troi asked, pointing to the device. Riker frowned, studying it.

"... No, I haven't." He noticed that the male humanoid had one behind his ear as well. The First Officer sighed and crossed his arms. "Dammit, we're only getting more questions, here… This ship would fit into a shuttle bay, it's small enough. I don't know what we're dealing with, but this is the first piece to the puzzle, wouldn't you agree?" Deanna nodded.

"Agreed."

* * *

Geordi ran his hands across his hair for what must have been the hundredth time. He turned to his friend, Data, who was hunched over a screen that rapidly displayed information. The little android that they had found was lying unresponsive on a bio bed in engineering. They had been unable to locate and/or open any access ports that she may have had, though a thorough scan had indicated that Data's tricorder readings had, in fact, been accurate.

That, in and of itself, had been a shock. So far as anyone knew, beyond Data, there hadn't been any success with the creation of a positronic brain. Still, proof of the contrary was right in front of them. Even more confusing, this little droid had referred to Data as her father. Though, that could be chalked up to the fact that she had obviously endured some sort of malfunction upon being found. Data had noted that it was likely she had some sort of failure within her internal timebase, as she had confessed to not knowing the time. Still, the fact that she seemingly shared some _physical_ attributes with his friend gave Geordi pause. Why would someone create an android toddler and program it to believe she was built(?) by Data, anyway? Nothing about this situation made sense to him. He wondered if this was Q's work.

"This is nuts." Geordi muttered to no one in particular, picking up a PADD and examining the limited information they had been able to collect thus far. Data hummed quietly in thought.

"I agree that this situation is certainly… unprecedented." Geordi nodded.

"You can say that again." While the two men worked studiously to locate _something_ of use based on the information collected from numerous scans, they didn't notice a pair of gold eyes open and blink a few times.

Evalyn turned her head and observed the bustling movements of the Engineering staff around her. Recalling the cause of her protective shutdown, Evalyn attempted again to access her internal chronometer. Failure. She let out a whimper, which brought the attention of Data and Geordi back to her. Her chest heaved and she looked at Data.

"Daddy, what time is it?" She sounded panicked, though the two men noticed her vocal modulator appeared to be functioning well enough, she sounded like a little girl, no mechanical whining or glitching. Data tilted his head. She had referred to him as 'daddy' again. He made a note of that, planning to ask after the nomenclature later. Right now, his priority was to be sure that she was functioning.

"It is currently 19:43 hours." Evalyn seemed to relax a bit.

"What is error TPXS001-01?" Data frowned as he searched for an answer.

"Error TPXS indicates that you are detecting a paradoxical situation; the error can render one or more programs inaccessible, if there is no compensation available. The category number which follows means that this instance is the primary occurence of this specific error code." Evalyn cocked her head.

"Paradoxical. Definition?"

"A paradox is a statement, proposition, or situation that, despite sound reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory." Evalyn seemed to pause in thought for a moment before nodding her understanding. "Are you able to detect which programs are affected by this error code?" Data asked and received another nod but no further elaboration. "... Will you tell me which programs are currently not functioning within normal parameters?" The little girl frowned.

"Chronometer programming inaccessible." She mumbled and Data nodded.

"I have been made aware of that. Is there anything else?" Evalyn placed the tip of her index finger into her mouth and shrugged her shoulders.

"Am I damaged?" She queried from around her finger. Data made a small thoughtful noise.

"I am unable to say; we have been unsuccessful in locating any access ports which would allow us to give you a more thorough system diagnostic." Evalyn perked up and made a quiet 'mmm!' before reaching her hand, the one that didn't have a finger in her mouth, behind her head and pressing down hard with three fingers at the base of her skull. Immediately, three accesses became raised: an occipital, and two temporal ports.

If there had been any doubts of her status as an android, they had been put to rest once the blinking lights and wires of a positronic brain were revealed.

"Ah. That is quite helpful." Data's eyebrows raised and his expression was noticeably more pleased and Evalyn smiled, her finger still firmly in her mouth.

"I know where they are because they are mine." She stated happily, then paused with a suddenly panicked expression. "What time is it?" Data tilted his head.

"It is currently 19:46 hours." She relaxed again; Data and Geordi shared a look. Now that they had access, it was time to get to work. Evalyn idly kicked her legs. Geordi connected a cable to her right side.

"So, what's your name?" The diminutive android made to cock her head, but was stopped by Data carefully keeping her neck still.

"A test? My name is Evalyn!" She was emphatic in her response, smiling happily. Geordi chuckled as he turned to his screen, looking at the data they gathered from her brain. Evalyn glanced to where Geordi's attention had gone before her eyes went back to Data, working from slightly behind and left of her.

"Daddy, you sound different in my head. Is that a malfunction, too?" Data didn't pause in his work, but there was a flicker of confusion that briefly graced his face.

"... I do not understand." He responded. Evalyn took her finger from her mouth to prod Data's forehead, using her wet finger, of course.

"I hear you. But the song is different. You sound more like how Wyn sounds, most times." Data's eyes flickered back and forth, trying to process what she could mean and how he should answer her query. She could hear him, yet she was rather obviously not referring to his voice. Was she somehow latching on to his positronic signal and interpreting it as auditory stimuli? "Do I sound the same?" Evalyn asked before Data could respond to her initial question. It seemed that her attention span was rather short. Expected in a child, he supposed, and Data was aware that he could likely use that to his advantage.

"... Who is Wyn?" He proverbially crossed his fingers. Evalyn stuck out her tongue briefly, and for no logical reason, before answering.

"Ariwyn is Wyn. Elian is Ellie." She chirped, as though she had answered the question. She then frowned, eyes getting slightly wider. "They didn't say goodbye! Oh, no." Her eyes filled with tears that were tinted slightly cyan. Data observed as her expression crumpled and a rush of air left her lips before she adopted a staccato breathing pattern. Fascinating. She was so… _emotional_. Temperamental as well, seemingly. Though, one could say she had the temperment of a young child. But what was he to say? This was venturing quickly into Deanna Troi's line of work, which Data was _not _suited for.

"Are you able to tell me the details of when you last had access to your internal chronometer?" The little girl took a breath and rubbed her eyes, blinking and quieting.

"19:58 hours, stardate 96257." Geordi realized he should probably sit down for a moment, and even Data's hands briefly paused. The current stardate was 46972. She was indicating that she was from the year 2417, the current year being 2369… If it were true, then it was no wonder as to why she was experiencing error TPXS.

Could it be possible that she was from 2417? And was she, in some way or another, a child created by him during that time period? Data did not know. He wasn't sure if this was simply a malfunction from her inoperable chronometer, though, and it would be good to rule out any technological explanations before debriefing the rest of the senior staff on their findings. Geordi sighed and looked to Data, seeing him working on a map of the little girl's neural net and displaying it alongside a map of his own. The chief engineer stood and made his way to the replicator, ordering a hot coffee. He had the feeling that it was going to be a long night in Engineering.

* * *

**And that's all they wrote; for now, anyway. Reviews are love, reviews are life.**

**~IM**


	3. Act I Part II

**DISCLAIMER:**

**I, Impudent Miscegenation, of Fanfiction (dot net), do not own or have any affiliation with the creators of ****Star** **Trek****. All rights respectfully go to Gene Roddenberry. I don't gain material profit from my works featured here, I write for my own amusement.**

* * *

_**Full Summary: An interstellar transit portal malfunctions, sending a cargo vessel almost fifty years into the past, where the occupants are found by the USS Enterprise-D.**_

**Author's Notes: I'm hoping this is **_**starting**_ **to make a little more sense. Also, dates and star-dates suck, and also technobabble sucks. So, just… yeah, I'm trying my best. No more notes! Engage!**

* * *

Love, War, and Android Babies

_Act_ _I__, __Part_ _II_

* * *

"Stardate _96257_?" Will asked incredulously. Data nodded. The senior staff, excepting Beverly Crusher and Deanna Troi, were in the observation lounge going over everything that they knew of their current situation.

"That is correct, sir. We have run a complete, thorough diagnostic and have found no errors with her internal chronometer. It has simply shut itself, and related programming, off due to having encountered a paradoxical scenario; she is active during events which took place prior to her primary activation date."

"Gentlemen, I believe we _could_ be looking at some sort of temporal anomaly in which the ship where she was found got caught in, sending it from 2417 to… now." Geordi reported thoughtfully. "What we got from our sensors about the anomaly in this area was really strange, garbled, and it's pretty impossible to know what any effects could have been, unless we can get closer to another event and conduct a proper scan." The Captain leaned back in his chair.

"Time travel…" He sounded almost in awe before crossing his hands over his knee, adopting a more stern countenance. "Right, then. Geordi, is there any way we could tell if another anomaly will appear in the area?" Geordi's expression was not inspiring.

"Like I said, sir, the readings our sensors picked up were pretty limited. We were too far away to pick up much more than byproduct, which can give us a heading, but not much else in the way of information." Jean-Luc let out a quiet sigh of disappointment. It was never that easy, was it?

"Very well. What else have we got to puzzle this out?" First officer Riker cleared his throat quietly and spoke.

"We've got the ship in shuttle-bay 2; a small shift of Engineering staff are looking at it now. The three we found in the cockpit were beamed to sickbay for autopsies, maybe the anomaly left something behind there."

"One can only hope, Number One. Now, the android… child. Aside from the fact that she is likely telling us the truth as she knows it, what else do we know?" Data seemed eager to explore the topic, and everyone in the room could guess as to why.

"She responds to the name 'Evalyn'. What Geordi and I found to be _particularly_ intriguing was the presence of nanotechnology throughout her system, located centrally in every part of her, including her brain. We discovered that they seem to be essential for development." Captain Picard frowned.

"'Development', Mister Data?"

"Indeed, sir. We discovered that the nanites are self-replicating and pre-programmed with information on both hardware and software; in a sense, she is being… built, in real time." At the looks of confusion from Riker and Worf, Geordi elaborated.

"The nanites are different, depending on their location and designation, and they use some level of predetermined programming to expand her form and function. Essentially, she's _growing_." The captain hummed as he considered the new information, eyes blazing with curiosity.

"Fascinating. And what of her, ah, creator? As I understand it, she is under the impression that you are some sort of paternal figure, Commander." Data nodded.

"That is correct, sir. She directly referred to me in such a light no less than twenty-nine times during her diagnostic." Geordi leaned back in his chair.

"The part that makes this either more or less surprising is that she knows who _we _are. Data and I tried to get a basis as to what, and whom, she can recall, mostly to see if her memory pathways were functioning correctly. She knew _me_, Captain, and you. _All_ of us. It explains why she hasn't been as confused as you'd expect. Even though she's about fifty years displaced, she's among semi-familiar faces." Riker frowned.

"'Semi-familiar'? How can she recognize _us_ if she's used to versions of ourselves that are fifty years older? We'd be old men!" Data took a moment to explain.

"You seem to forget, sir, that she is not human. She is an android. Physical appearances change with age, yes, however, it is likely that her facial recognition software allows her to see the details in bone structure that others would not, allowing her to disregard the varied states of a human's integument. Beyond that, there are other factors which may influence her ability to detect whom she is seeing; such as vocal pitch and situational context, for example. Truly believing herself to be progeny of mine, it is only logical that she would know at least _of_ all of you, by association with me, if nothing else." Geordi nodded his assent to Data's reasoning.

"Plus, since her programming's detected that she's living a paradox, certain protections seem to have come into play. It's _also_ completely possible that she's experiencing and filing away stimuli in a different way than how she would normally interpret it; we just don't know enough yet about how her brain is different from Data's to be able to say that for sure." Picard nodded.

"I see, and where is the child now?"

"She's with Counselor Troi." Geordi supplied before Data elaborated.

"As mentioned in the official report I sent, Evalyn is apparently capable of experiencing and responding to a wide breadth of emotional states. Even more, the Counselor is able to pick up on them. Geordi thought it might be a good idea for the Counselor to assess her emotional state; once we were reasonably sure she was not malfunctioning, that is." The Captain hummed in thought.

"Very well. Mister Data, do you believe there is any- " Captain Picard was interrupted by the chirping of Data's comm badge.

"Crusher to Data." Data, looking slightly confused, answered with a tap to his badge.

"Yes, Doctor?"

"Are you able to come to sickbay? I think you need to see something. Well, a couple of somethings, actually." Even more puzzled, Data glanced to the Captain, who waved him along.

"I am on my way."

* * *

When Data arrived in sickbay, it was to the hushed chatter of medical staff who weren't busy assisting patients. Beverly Crusher raised her hand in a wave and Data joined her, following her to the room just off of sickbay, the morgue.

"I'm sorry to pull you away from the debriefing, but I thought this was important. I wanted you to see everything first before I made an official report." Data frowned.

"'Everything'? Doctor, if I may say so, you are being rather… ambiguous." Beverly laughed quietly.

"I suppose I am. I'm just trying to wrap my head around everything, I suppose." Data's expression turned from puzzled to thoughtful.

"Ah. I see. Perfectly reasonable, given recent events, I would say." Beverly nodded.

"Well, here's another event for us to consider. I read your report; the android you found, Evalyn, she called you 'Daddy', right?" Data nodded.

"Twenty-nine times, yes." Beverly lead him deeper into the dimly-lit room.

"Well, I was examining the bodies that Commander Riker and Counselor Troi found on the ship. All three of them were resistant to any and all scans they tried to take. I started with the Kzin male, because the corpse was already decomposing. I found out that it was this… armor that was interfering with our scanners. Once it was removed, I was able to perform the autopsy. I've already made a report on my findings, there, but that's not why I called you down here." Doctor Crusher explained, coming to two bio-beds in the center of the morgue. Two bodies were covered by a thin sheet.

"I was told that the other two that we found had no signs of decomposition, but didn't have a pulse, either. From opening the body bags, though, I could venture a guess as to why that might be." She folded down the sheet to reveal the faces of the two bodies and Data cocked his head as he processed what he saw. One male and one female, both looked _almost_ human. But…

His skin tone was matched exactly in the unknown male, whose eyes were closed, his face was frozen in a grimace of pain. Data noted that, more than skin tone, he shared _features_ with the man as well. Most notably, they had the same nose. His hair, however, was red, shoulder-length, and curled in a manner not dissimilar from the way Evalyn's hair was. And, while Data was 182 centimeters tall, he estimated that the unidentified man was from 189-192 centimeters tall (he would know for certain once their forms were uncovered).

Data's eyes traveled to the female. Her skin tone was the same as Evalyn's. From the looks of it, she had been caught off-guard. Yellow-Green eyes, vibrant but dulled by deactivation, were wide open, and her lips were slightly parted. Her hair was straight and brown, like his own, and pulled into a low ponytail (with a white band). Because of the sheet, Data couldn't tell how long the ponytail went. She had high cheekbones and a thin, delicate face. She was also shorter than he was, he estimated she was 169-172 centimeters tall.

Both of them seemed to be built differently in form, as well. They were thinner and overall appeared less… dense; this was more true of the female than the male.

What truly stood out was the small device imbedded in the same spot on both of the still forms in the shape of a seven-sided star, behind their right ears. If what Beverly was implying was correct, and these two were androids as well, Data couldn't be sure that the devices weren't part of their original hardware. Evalyn didn't have such a device implanted on her, however, she _was _rather small and, apparently, still undergoing a sort of growth process. It was quite possible that the device was something she could develop at a later stage of life.

"I had hoped that, once their clothing was removed, we would be able to scan them, but there hasn't been any luck. I can't make any sense of this, Data, but if this really could be time travel…"

"That is currently our most promising hypothesis, though we will be exploring all other avenues of research once we have finished collecting the information available to us at this… time." Data raised his brows. A pun. Humorous? Beverly sighed deeply and re-covered the two forms.

"I think that, given what we've seen here, we should move them to engineering. I'll get them clothed, first, obviously. Hopefully you and Geordi will have better luck than we have … If you'll excuse me, Data." Data watched as the doctor left, and he lingered for only a moment longer before following.

This entire evening has been puzzling, indeed.

* * *

Deanna had one leg crossed over the other, hands on her lap, as she watched the little girl in front of her. Evalyn was seated, quietly, using the coloring materials that Deanna had set out after Geordi had called her from engineering.

When Data had brought her in, Deanna had really wanted to speak to them both. She was a bit overwhelmed on Data's behalf. As much as _she_ was in disbelief, she couldn't imagine what kind of thoughts _Data_ had on this. The Lieutenant Commander, however, insisted that he needed to report his findings to the Captain immediately.

It was thankful, really, that Evalyn didn't seem to mind being left in the care of 'Auntie Anna'; a title which Deanna responded to with a smile. In fact, she had set down to color as soon as she realized the supplies were there for her.

The drawings she had made were simple and rather geometric in design. She was currently coloring in a flower.

"Oh, I nearly forgot!" Troi exclaimed, reaching behind the couch in her office to pull out the pink backpack that Commander Riker had found. Evalyn stood from her coloring station and ran over to the couch where Deanna sat.

"My bag! Thank you, Auntie Anna!" Deanna smiled and handed it off. Evalyn plopped down on the floor and began intently digging until she found what she had been looking for: a pink sippy cup filled with a bright orange liquid, which was quickly drained. Deanna observed with curiosity. The rapid way she'd sucked the drink down almost corresponded to a _need_, but would that make sense with an android? (What about this situation makes sense, Deanna?)

The empty cup was returned to the bag and out came a stuffed blackbird, which Evalyn hugged tightly to her chest.

"Beak!" She exclaimed happily; whether she had named it or was just babbling off a feature on the animal, Deanna wasn't sure. The android suddenly paused and Deanna _felt_ it. Cold fear, dread, anxiety.

"Evalyn, what's wrong?" Her head snapped up and searched the walls until she found the clock (23:48) and sighed. Relief. Her attention moved back to Deanna.

"I'm okay."

"Can you tell me why you were afraid?" Deanna probed cautiously. The android nodded.

"I didn't know the time. Now I see it."

"You don't like not knowing the time?" Evalyn nodded again, bouncing the bird along the floor.

"It means I'm malfunctioning. But I'm not damaged, Daddy says so. 'All necessitive systems are operating within accepted parameters'." Evelyn wiggled around. "I'll fix myself, I need to wait until Daddy can take away the paradox." Deanna smiled.

"Well, I suppose that's good. Now, do you find this… a bit strange at all, Evalyn?" Deanna asked and the girl moved her eyes to study the bird she held. Deanna felt a ripple of anxiety, but it was quickly recovered from and replaced with the contentedness of before.

"Yes. But Daddy's here." Deanna nodded at her sensical reasoning; she'd heard it from other young children. Everything would be fine, so long as their parent was with them as a guide.

"Now, can you tell me about… _how_ he is your father?" Evelyn looked confused.

"I don't know... When is Daddy coming back?" Deanna smiled reassuringly.

"Soon, I'm sure." The little girl sighed, Troi sensing her slight disappointment, and laid down on her side, index and middle fingers entering her mouth. Deanna raised a questioning eyebrow, an android with an oral habit?

"Why do you have your fingers in your mouth?" Evalyn shrugged.

"Sometimes I want to have them there." Deanna chuckled at the answer.

"Fair enough." The child seemed to be done with conversing, as she turned her back to Deanna and immersed herself in play. Her emotions didn't indicate any distress; it was likely that she simply didn't want to talk anymore (reasonable, for a small child).

Humming to herself, Deanna decided that it would be best to not ask too many questions. The girl didn't _seem _to be perturbed by her situation, which was good. Though the idea that she could be denying the reality of the situation was perhaps concerning.

Deanna sighed thoughtfully, moving to her desk to check on any reports, as well as to write up her own. She had nearly finished when her door chimed.

The little one on the floor remained undisturbed and Deanna put away her work.

"Come in."

Data entered the room and Deanna smiled.

"Hello, Data … Do you have a moment to talk, now?" The officer nodded.

"I believe I do, Counselor." Deanna made herself more comfortable and Data seated himself in a chair opposite her. Evalyn had perked up as soon as she'd heard Data's voice.

"Daddy!" She quickly stood, bringing the stuffed bird with her, and all but threw herself at the larger android, who only tilted his head at her excitable behavior. Evalyn gripped at his pants and used them to pull herself onto his knee, which Data helped her with once he realized her goal. Deanna couldn't stop her smile at sensing Evalyn's emotions change, becoming just a bit stronger. Trust, happiness, the feeling of being lighter. Love.

"She's quite taken with you." Troi observed, to which Data glanced at the child seated on him.

"Yes. It would seem so. Has she experienced any additional, involuntary shut-downs in my absence?" Evalyn shook her head wildly.

"I don't need to shut down!" She informed, tightly squeezing her stuffie. Deanna chuckled and shook her head.

"She hasn't, no. She's very well behaved. I actually wanted to talk about what _you_ think about all this, Data." Noting that Evalyn was entirely focused on the stuffed bird in her hands, Data kept his eyes on the Counselor.

"I…" Data paused, "I believe that we must discover the cause of her appearance here. The operating assumption involves temporal displacement, though in truth we do not have enough concrete evidence to support the theory definitively. As for what I believe about Evalyn… All that we have seen indicates that she is, in one form or another, my… offspring." His eyes quickly flicked to the small girl leaning against his chest. Noticing the attention, Evelyn smiled up at him briefly before turning back to her toy.

Deanna kept her gaze trained on Data expectantly, who was only quiet for a moment more.

"Even if such is not the case, and she was simply programmed with incorrect information, I see no reason to give her that impression at present. It may do more harm than good, as she is already experiencing an error code that hinders function if left unresolved." Deanna nodded.

"I think I agree with you, Data … Any thoughts on how this could be, well, _possible_? You've told us before that you aren't able to reproduce in the traditional sense, and yet..."

"And yet, for all appearances, it seems that I have made an error in that regard… I believe we need more information before I am to hypothesize the nature of her existence and, by extension, her creation." Data finished with a nod. He paused and looked thoughtful. "Counselor, for the interim, it seems as though Evelyn has been placed in my care. I… Do not know what to expect. She has surpassed my function in a number of ways, and does not appear to have the same limitations as I. In a sense both literal and figurative, she is a mystery to me." Deanna smiled wider.

"That's parenthood, Data."

* * *

**If you care to, drop me a review! I'm always looking for constructive criticism. :)**

**~IM**


	4. Act I Part III

**DISCLAIMER:**

**I, Impudent Miscegenation, of Fanfiction (dot net), do not own or have any affiliation with the creators of ****Star** **Trek****. All rights respectfully go to Gene Roddenberry. I don't gain material profit from my works featured here, I write for my own amusement.**

* * *

_**Full Summary: An interstellar transit portal malfunctions, sending a cargo vessel almost fifty years into the past, where the occupants are found by the USS Enterprise-D.**_

**Author's Notes: Starting to really build, here, I promise there's more action waiting. No more notes! Engage!**

* * *

Love, War, and Android Babies

_Act_ _I__, __Part_ _III_

* * *

It was 12:44 in the morning when Data left Counselor Troi's office, hand-in-hand with the small android that claimed to be his child. He'd had to change his posture in order to keep her tiny grip inside of his own; Counselor Troi seemed to find that amusing. Though, it could have been the fact that he was also carrying Evalyn's small, pink bag. The girl had refused to relinquish the stuffed bird, which was clutched closely to her side.

On their way to his quarters, Data noted that her head seemed to be on a swivel, taking in as much information about her surroundings as was possible.

"... Where are we?" Data looked down at her.

"We are on a Federation starship called the Enterprise."

"Okay. Why are we here?"

"_I_ am here because it is my current assignment."

"Oh. Why?" Data frowned to himself as the doors to his quarters slid open.

"Because… It is the assignment I was given. I am the second officer on this ship." Following him inside, Evalyn tilted her head.

"Why?"

"I do not understand your query. Why what?" Evalyn only hummed and seemed content to drop the subject when she didn't receive a definitive response. Instead, her eyes roamed around the room and she wandered further in, releasing Data's hand. She gasped when she saw Spot cleaning himself on the bed. The stuffed bird was discarded on the floor, forgotten, as her hands gripped one another at her chest.

"_Cat_! May I pet the cat, _please_?" Data nodded and Evalyn beamed.

"You are welcome to try. His name is Spot. I must warn you, he is very… _selective_ with those he responds to." Seemingly paying no heed to the warning, Evalyn rushed over and giggled. Spot, fearing the sudden movement, leapt off the bed and mewled loudly in protest of the disturbance. Evalyn wasn't deterred and followed the cat as he paced around in an attempt to avoid the child.

Data briefly wondered if he should intervene on Spot's behalf, but decided against it. She wasn't harming him; she wasn't even touching him. Eventually, Spot grew weary of evading the girl and instead began sniffing her curiously. A somewhat familiar, though altogether new, smell. He pushed his fuzzy head against Evalyn's waiting palm.

"Good kitty." Evalyn praised with a pleased smile and began running her little hands along his orange fur, seating herself cross-legged on the ground next to the cat.

Evalyn kept herself busy with Spot, who was much more content now that he was receiving even, rhythmic petting.

Data keenly observed the interaction; aside from himself, the only other member of the crew that didn't suffer hissing and scratches from _nearing_ Spot was Lieutenant Barclay. Though, he hadn't really exposed Spot to children, either (with the exception of Alexander, whom Spot behaved indifferently towards). Filing the thought away, Data set the pink bag and stuffed animal down on the floor beside his desk.

With the smaller android preoccupied, Data seated himself and started working. The calm lasted for twelve minutes before Evalyn's hand paused and she cocked her head, fear written on her expression as she frantically looked along the walls. Spot, not being tended to any more, stood and stalked to his food bowl. Data glanced up from his station and Evalyn caught his gaze.

"What time is it?" She whimpered, and Data noticed tears returning to her eyes.

"It is 1:22." Data responded, eyebrows furrowed. Her inability to access her internal chronometer was obviously provoking an intense emotional response. As an android, it was likely that she had _always _known what time it was, down to the nanosecond, until this point. To suddenly _not _be aware of the passage of time as she had always known it was bound to be a new, unwelcome experience.

Once she had been given the hour, however, her reaction was immediate. The frantic searching stopped and Evalyn seemed to relax, her content expression returning. She scrubbed at her eyes to rid them of unshed tears. Satisfied, Data returned to his work. She stood from her place on the ground to grab her stuffed bird again. She then rifled through her bag and found her empty sippy cup. She shook the empty cup with a frown before wandering to Data's side.

"Have more, please?" She asked while holding her empty cup out. Data tilted his head to the side, gently taking the offered cup and moving to the replicator, Evalyn trailing behind.

"What is it that you would like me to fill this with?"

"I want… I want what was in it before." As it was likely that her response was complete, Data took a scan of the residual fluid at the bottom of the cup, rather than attempt to probe for a more detailed description.

The beverage was of a composition similar to the silicon-based nutrient suspension which the replicator was already familiar with, though there were a few minor changes. The cup smelled sweet and of citrus, almost like an orange. Data programmed the replicator with the correct information and filled the cup, as requested. Capping the top tightly, he handed the sippy cup off to the waiting girl at his side.

"Thank you!" She chirped and immediately brought the cup to her lips.

"You are welcome." She followed him back, and stood close, when he returned to his desk. Rather than immediately return to work, he observed her. She was looking back intently, cup now in hands and her toy under her arm.

"Can I watch you?" His brows went up at her question.

"If you like." She smiled and the sippy cup went back into her mouth. End of conversation? Data returned to his tasks: checking Engineering's preliminary reports on the vessel, investigating whether their current location would be susceptible to any additional unknown events, inquiring about the status of the two unidentified individuals from the morgue, fixing crew rotation issues, and adding observations he had made about Evalyn into a personal log.

Evalyn watched as his hands worked rapidly, her head tilting. She was still only for a moment before starting to sway left and right, like a metronome. Data looked down.

"Is your current motion due to a malfunction?" Evalyn looked up and stopped her activity, her eyes shifting from his hands to his face.

"No." She answered simply, then frowned. "What time is it?"

"It is 1:47." Her sour expression remained and she looked at the floor, which was atypical behavior, according to what he'd observed thus far. He turned himself to face her. "What is wrong?" Evalyn looked back up, keeping a vice grip on the sippy cup in her hands.

"I have to shut down." It was Data's turn to frown.

"What do you mean by 'shut down'? Are you experiencing any additional errors?" Evalyn shook her head.

"No. But I have to shut down." Her cup went into her mouth, and she finished draining the fluid inside. Evalyn looked around before ultimately deciding to hold the empty cup out to Data. "I'm done." Data took the cup.

"Can you explain why you need to 'shut down'?" Evalyn made a whining noise, starting to become agitated, indicated also by her expression.

"I _have_ to. I don't understand."

"I see. You _have _to shut down… Will you do so and reactivate without assistance or do you require aid?" Evalyn shook her head yet again.

"I don't need aid; I need to shut down." She raised the arm that wasn't wrapped around her stuffed bird and reached up towards Data. "Up, please!" Placing the empty cup beside his work station, Data obliged and lifted the child onto his knee, as he had done when they were in the Counselor's office. Evalyn made a small huff of frustration and clambered closer to lie her head against his chest; Data adjusted his hold to allow it, keeping one arm around her small form while the other remained free. Her arms wrapped around his neck and Evalyn pulled herself close to Data's shoulder, her stuffed animal having been dropped on the ground.

Placated once more, Evalyn sighed and stilled. When the silence endured for a handful of minutes, Data ventured a look at her face. Slack, expressionless. She still took small, regular breaths. She wasn't entirely deactivated, then. Did she have a dreaming program as well? He wondered if he should perform another scan of her brain. Would opening her access panels… wake her? He couldn't be sure. She didn't seem particularly agitated about her apparent need to 'shut down', which _could_ indicate that such was a regular process. Again, he wasn't sure.

Data found that, while he couldn't experience distress, he was… at odds with himself about not knowing what to do when it came to Evalyn. She was an android; if _he _didn't know how to respond, who would, really? Yet, she was unexpected and certainly an enigma.

Data wondered if she would react to movement; it wouldn't do to have her in this position for an unknown amount of time. He stood, experimentally, and waited. Nothing. Pleased, Data carried the small child to the bed and carefully deposited her onto it, tucking the stuffed blackbird into her arms after having untangled them from around his neck.

His door chimed and Data again glanced at Evalyn's relaxed face. She hadn't moved a millimeter.

"... Enter." He called, softly, walking towards the door. Evalyn didn't budge at his voice. Geordi entered his quarters and Data quirked his head.

"Geordi. You should be sleeping." The android officer observed and Geordi sighed.

"Probably, yeah. I mean, I _did_ try but… Well, I just wanted to check in, see how you were doing."

"I am fine, Geordi." Geordi looked around Data and spotted Evalyn curled up on the bed.

"... She's asleep?" Geordi sounded almost in awe, his eyebrows shooting towards his hairline. Data looked over to the girl.

"It would seem so. She repeatedly informed me of a need to 'shut down', and has since been in this state. I currently do not see any immediate danger to the situation; however, if she remains inactive for an extended period or if she deactivates entirely, I will perform another scan to be sure that the error code she is experiencing has not affected any additional programming." Geordi nodded.

"Good thinking. So, any ideas yet as to how she's, well, y'know..." The Chief Engineer trailed off. Data made a soft, contemplative noise.

"I do _not _know, yet I assume that you are referring to my having thoughts on how her existence has come to be, ah, or _could _come to be?" Geordi shrugged his shoulders.

"I mean, more or less, yeah. Data, she _grows_, she _sleeps_\- she even shares some of your _physical _traits! I mean, this is… _wild_." Geordi settled on the word, after a moment of deliberation. Data hummed.

"Your observations are astute; yet, I do not believe I have enough information about her origins to have developed an operating theory of her creation. Perhaps it will become clear as we discover more." Geordi hummed in agreement, then paused.

"You know, Data, before I left Engineering, I took a look at what we got from the morgue." Data's eyebrows raised.

"Have you learned anything?" Geordi nodded his head as he answered.

"Yeah, and Doctor Crusher's hunch was right; they're androids, too. I was able to find and open their cranial access ports. The female had the same pressure points that Evalyn has. The male's worked the same way _yours _do, Data. They're both deactivated, though, and I don't know how to reactivate them. Nothing is registering on _any_ scan we've taken and there's no clue as to why. Neither of them have any kind of switch; or, if they do, we're not able to find it."

"Hm… It is quite possible that Evalyn may know more; she was found on the same vessel, after all. Perhaps it would be beneficial to see if she is able to identify them, at least." Geordi made a contemplative noise.

"You know, that's not a bad idea… Hey Data, what were the strange names she brought up a few times during her diagnostic?"

"The two most frequently mentioned unknown identities were named Ariwyn and Elian."

"That _could _be their names. Guess we'll just have to wait for her to tell us if they're who she was talking about." Geordi crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the motionless child, completely undisturbed by the hushed conversation near her. Data hummed in agreement. "... Well, I suppose I should try harder to get some shut-eye. Might see Doctor Crusher for some help with that. But, Data, if you need any help with this, or her-"

"I will be sure to inform you first but, for the moment, Geordi, I am fine. You should rest." Geordi smiled appreciatively.

"Thanks, Data. Have a good-ah, morning."

"And to you, Geordi. Sleep well." With farewells exchanged, Geordi excused himself from Data's quarters.

Data found himself wandering back to the bedside, observing the little girl. No movement as of yet; she was in the exact position that she had been laid down in. His hand brushed away a stray, reddish-brown curl from her cheek, tucking it behind her ear. No reaction from Evalyn was had.

Though she wasn't deactivated, it seemed she was currently unable to respond to all stimuli; visual, auditory, and tactile input receivers were either off or their signals not being processed. Data wondered if her olfactory senses were operating. He decided that he shouldn't experiment, much as he was curious. If he really was to believe that Evalyn was, in some way, _asleep_ it would be rude and rather inappropriate of him to do so.

Her left hand moved and Data observed with increased interest. Her thumb moved to the side of her hand, then returned to its relaxed position. Her fingers started to twitch and move: index finger to thumb and back, middle finger to thumb and back, ring finger to thumb and back, pinkie finger to thumb and back. Her hand curled into a fist, relaxed, and the entire process repeated three additional times. The hand stilled once more. Data recognized those movements. It seemed that part of this 'shut-down' included the re-calibration of certain motor functions.

"Fascinating."

* * *

Captain Picard sipped at his steaming tea in his ready room. Yesterday had been… eventful, to say the least, and there was much more to be done. The four hours he'd slept weren't helping with the tension that had settled over his neck and shoulders. The tea would have to do.

The door chimed.

"Come!" The doors opened to his first officer, Will Riker.

"Reporting, Captain." Picard nodded and gestured for Riker to sit. Seating himself in the offered chair, Will cleared his throat before he began. "The scanners aren't working on the ship; not for anything useful. We aren't sure yet as to what it can do, the configuration doesn't match anything we've seen before. We're guessing that it's _possibly_ a cargo vessel, judging from the size and layout." The Captain nodded, even though that wasn't much information to go on.

"I see, anything else?"

"Geordi told me that he got a chance to look at the bodies that Doctor Crusher sent from the morgue to engineering and says that _both_ of _them_ are androids, too. All they have to go on right now is based on limited information, though; they still aren't able to get any readings from them, either, and Geordi doesn't know why. All we know is that there's some level of unknown interference. We have our best looking at the armor Doctor Crusher removed from the dead Kzin; it was _also_ resistant to scanning, so hopefully we should find _something _to use to counteract the obstructions with our scanners. If not even for the ship, then hopefully for the two androids. We've also been taking a look at the surrounding space; scanning for any energy anomalies or unusual transmissions in subspace. No luck so far; it seems that whatever it was that sent them here is long gone and we don't know enough about what it was to say whether or not we could feasibly reproduce something similar to send them back." Captain Picard sighed through his nose.

"Well, Number One, it seems as though we have a bit of a puzzle to complete. We have some of the pieces; now to figure out how they fit together." Riker paused thoughtfully, crossing his arms across his chest.

"And hopefully find _more_ pieces along the way." Picard grunted his agreement and took a long swallow from his tea.

"While we're searching for answers, we should try to limit the spread of information about these events with those outside the ship. Assuming we _are_ looking at time travel, we could be toying with the continuity of the timeline simply by having them here."

"Understood, sir." There was a pause in conversation, each man having his own thoughts on the unfolding events. As there was no more concrete evidence to discuss, and not enough information yet to form theories, it seemed the difficult work was just beginning.

"Number One, I want you and Lieutenant Worf to continue our localized scans and then conduct a more thorough scan of this star system. Even if the anomaly _hasn't_ left anything else behind, I want to be _certain_. And put out a level 2 inquiry for any strange activity in this region of space. It can't hurt to have more eyes on any possible anomalies. I'm gonna have the Counselor working closely with Commander Data so that, hopefully, we can discern his role in all of this and separate fact from hypotheses." Riker nodded his understanding and Picard waved his first officer along.

"Dismissed." Will jerked his head and stood, heading for the door as Jean-Luc leaned back in his chair and opened up the report he'd received from Deanna concerning the welfare of the android child they had discovered. She'd made it abundantly clear that Evalyn was steadfastly attached to Data, utilizing him as a lifeline; he was the constant from her time to this one. Deanna had showed concern that, should Evalyn be separated from him during her stay in the year 2369, it was possible that there would be not only emotional repercussions from it, but likely physical manifestations of stress as well. Geordi had backed the Counselor up on this, citing the malfunction that had been occurring upon her being found.

_Since Data's been with her,_ Deanna's report read, _she seems to not have a problem, no malfunctioning nor any severe emotional upset. It could be that being with him-whom she sees as a familiar and guiding figure-is helping her to cope with the situation. She doesn't seem to understand her predicament; she became confused and upset when we tried to explain, to the point that we believe it will be easier on everyone if we disclose as little about her situation to her as possible, unless it becomes absolutely necessary. At this time, asking too many questions may prove to do more harm than good, for both her and time's continuity, if she's truly from 2417._

Picard sighed and finished his room temperature tea. He hoped beyond hope that the answers they needed wouldn't take too long to find; he would hate to think of what could happen, otherwise.

* * *

**Jean-Luc Picard, you've done this whole time travel shit before, don't even test my patience. Anyway, reviews make me smile! Please don't forget to tell me what you think!**

**~IM**


	5. Act I Part IV

**DISCLAIMER:**

**I, Impudent Miscegenation, of Fanfiction (dot net), do not own or have any affiliation with the creators of ****Star** **Trek****. All rights respectfully go to Gene Roddenberry. I don't gain material profit from my works featured here, I write for my own amusement.**

* * *

_**Full Summary: An interstellar transit portal malfunctions, sending a cargo vessel almost fifty years into the past, where the occupants are found by the USS Enterprise-D.**_

**Author's Notes: Thank you to all that reviewed! You all rock! I'm trash at updating, but I regret nothing. This one is a bit longer, though, so hopefully that makes up for it. Also, I want to note that Lore **_**will **_**show up, but there's some more build before he comes into the picture. Patience is a virtue, and I'm a hypocrite. Cavity-inducing fluff warning. No more notes! Engage!**

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Love, War, and Android Babies

_Act_ _I__, __Part_ _IV_

* * *

Hours passed by, yet Evalyn showed no signs of moving; beyond the infrequent calibration of her limbs and digits, that is. Data had made a point of not disturbing the child, as Evalyn had made it clear that the shut down was necessitive. Eight hours, he'd decided, seemed a reasonable amount of time to wait before acting as long as her current state didn't change drastically.

Currently he was at his workstation, debating with himself on how to solve one of the dilemmas he faced. He was meeting Geordi in engineering at 8:00, and Data was conflicted as to what to do with the motionless girl on the bed.

The most obvious solution would be to carry her down with him; she would not be out of his sight _and_ she would be in engineering where they could run a diagnostic, if need be. Yet, would that be the most wise decision? He also thought it would be rather unprofessional of him to, essentially, carry a sleeping child into a workspace. Particularly one so busy as engineering.

Spot yowled at Data's feet; he expected breakfast. Data promptly went to the replicator in the other room, where Spot took his meals. He selected feline supplement #43, as Spot had elected to consume it a number of other occasions. Data crouched to serve the bowl to the loudly meowing cat.

"I trust you will find this acceptable, Spot."

In the other room, on the bed, Evalyn opened her eyes. She _had_ been in her father's arms, yet such was no longer the case. She had been laid down on a bed, presumably by him. Her emotional response program deemed that as acceptable. How long had she been shut down? Unknown. Internal chronometer inaccessible. That was _unacceptable_. Evalyn sat up, tears filling her eyes as the panic, yet again, set in. Her hands began to shake, so she curled them into fists. Her breaths came to her sharply and she whimpered, gathering Data's attention from the other room.

Instantly at the bedside, Data knelt down. While it was good that she was active again, this emotional distress would not do.

"Evalyn. What is wrong?" Evalyn rubbed at her eyes, little fists still trembling.

"Daddy, what time is it? How long was I shut down? Can you make the paradox go away?" She asked, a fearful tremor in her tone.

"It is 7:14, you were shut down for approximately six hours. Unfortunately, I… cannot make the paradox 'go away' at this time." Data watched her intently, hoping that providing answers to her queries would soothe her emotional distress. Evalyn took a few heaving breaths, but her hands had stopped their quivering. She faced Data, wetness still apparent in her eyes.

"I don't like paradoxes." She whimpered. "They're bad." Data paused as a possible solution occurred to him. Deciding, he lifted the little one into his arms and set her against his hip. Evalyn didn't appear more or less comforted by this, but when Data strode to the replicator she cocked her head, earnest curiosity briefly cutting through her tearful pout. His hand danced across the panel and soon he was fastening something purple to her wrist.

"Bracelet." The little girl observed, somewhat correctly.

"It is a wristwatch. It is a method of keeping time often utilized by humans; simply look to your wrist when you desire to know the hour." Evalyn smiled and looked at the digital watch face, bad mood forgotten.

"It's 7:15!"

"Indeed."

"It's purple. I like purple." Pleased that the emotional crisis was averted (for now), Data set the girl on her feet. She twisted her wrist and looked happily at the band around it. "I have a purple skirt; it's pretty." She added, making her way to the other side of the room and unzipping her backpack. She pulled out the aforementioned skirt: a ruffled orchid-purple tutu with a little, white bow at the waist.

"It's _pretty_! I want to put it on." Evalyn plopped herself on the floor and began attempting to undo the buttons on the front of her sleeper. Data noticed her fingers fumbling clumsily, tripping over themselves. It seemed as though her mind was moving far too fast for her hands to accurately respond to the signals they received. Her expression changed from one of concentration to one of frustration. She had successfully undone the top button, but was having little success with the one below. Data wondered if he should offer his assistance, but didn't need to deliberate long before Evalyn looked at him with a pout.

"Help?" Evalyn stood back up as Data strode across the room and knelt down to her level. Her sleeper was unbuttoned and set aside in swift precession. Evalyn stood waiting in her pink undergarments, expectantly watching Data, so the elder android assisted the little one into her skirt, as well. Evalyn seemed contented in her skirt and, not seeming to mind her half-dressed state, tried to move away but Data held her in place with a hand on her shoulder. Taking a look into the pink bag, Data spotted a few other outfits. He selected a short-sleeved, white shirt with a glittery pink lily flower on the chest. The girl raised her arms, giggling when the shirt was pulled down and tucked in. Data maintained his position at eye-level with the child.

"What's my routine today?" The little girl asked with a smile.

"In thirty minutes, we will be departing for engineering. There were two additional androids found on the vessel you were occupying. It is our hope that you may know them. When you were on the ship, who was with you?" Evalyn tilted her head.

"Ellie and Wyn took me on a vacation. I miss them. I missed you more. Where's Mummy?" Data blinked and he detected several thought processes halt at the unexpected question. A mother? His pause was brief, however, and he answered the child before she could become upset again.

"I… do not know." He informed her, truthfully. Evalyn frowned at his response.

"When is Mummy coming back?"

"I will endeavor to return you to your mother as soon as possible; it is the most urgent priority at present." Her brows went down, continuing to frown, and she looked at her feet silently. Data didn't know what he should prepare for. Tears, likely, if previous experience had taught him anything. As much as he would like to make her… _feel better_, he didn't have anything more that he could say.

"I need shoes." Evalyn said, quietly, expression still stormy. Data looked to the bag again and produced a pair of white ballet flats, setting them down in front of her. Evalyn sighed and her contented expression returned, she stepped into the shoes and smiled.

"All dressed! … Can I have my cup?" Data found himself rather relieved that she was quick to recover from her emotional upset.

"I assume you want it filled; what would you like?" Evalyn stuck her index finger into her mouth. Data straightened up and made his way back to the replicator, bringing the pink sippy cup, and Evalyn followed.

"I want," she paused briefly, as if deciding, "I want what was in it before. Please." Simple tastes, then. She was predictable to some degree, at least.

Her sippy cup was filled, again, with the bright orange liquid. After Evalyn gave her thanks, the cup went into her mouth. She looked to the watch on her wrist and hummed. Pulling the cup from her mouth, Evalyn's gaze turned upwards to Data.

"Twenty six minutes left. Can we play a game?" Data hummed.

"I believe so; what game would you like to play?" Evalyn idly drank from her cup while she thought about her response. Her hand reached out and grabbed ahold of his index and middle fingers. She began walking forward and she pulled at his fingers to get him to follow. Data allowed her to lead him, curious as to what she had in mind. She sat down, cross-legged, on the ground in the center of the room, releasing Data's fingers in the process. She looked at him expectantly, so he sat down across from her in the same manner. An idea seemed pleasing to her as her brows shot up and the cup was pulled from her mouth.

"Let's play the poem game!" Data quirked his brow.

"May I ask what this game entails?"

"Pick a poem and tell me some, I'll finish!"

"Ah, I see." Data deliberated for a moment before continuing.

"*His head he raised – there was in sight,

It caught his eye, he saw it plain –

Upon the house-top, glittering bright,

A broad and gilded vane.

Then did the boy his tongue unlock,

And eased his mind with this reply:

'At Kilve there was no weather-cock;

And that's the reason why.'" Evalyn paused and Data could see her eyes moving rapidly as she processed the two stanzas, then began searching for the correct response. She was quiet for a moment more before she brightened up and beamed at him happily.

"O dearest, dearest boy! my heart

For better lore would seldom yearn,

Could I but teach the hundredth part

Of what from thee I learn." She chirped the proceeding stanza. Data nodded his head in approval. Evalyn kept her happy smile and she clapped her hands together a few times in celebration.

"Another one!"

"Very well." And such was how the time was spent before the two androids left, hand in hand, for engineering.

* * *

Evalyn looked around at the busy officers in engineering as they worked fervently. She was being led by the hand deeper into the section, until they reached a pair of bio-beds in a corner where Geordi was waiting.

"Gigi!" Evalyn greeted, waving, and Geordi waved back with a smile. Due to her height, she couldn't see whom was on the beds until Data lifted her, settling her against his hip, and directed her attention to the prone androids. Her reaction was immediate and she brightened.

"Ellie! Wyn!" She paused and then frowned. "I can't hear them. They're shut down. Why?" Geordi folded his arms across his chest.

"Wish we knew; that's the question we've been trying to answer since they were transported down here." He sighed, mostly to himself. Evalyn spotted the devices behind their ears and gasped.

"Stickers! Can I have a sticker, too? They're pretty." Data and Geordi shared a look before Data gathered Evalyn's attention.

"Stickers?" Evalyn pointed to the star-shaped device on the female's neck.

"Stickers!"

"... Those _stickers_… Will you have one like that, eventually… do you know?" Geordi asked and Evalyn quirked her head.

"I _want_ one. I like stickers."

"Are those stickers _usually _there?" She frowned at Geordi.

"... I don't understand." Data hummed in thought.

"Access your last memory record in which Elian and Ariwyn were _active_. Did they have the stickers on at that point?" Evalyn's face went into a neutral expression as she did so. After a moment she looked back up at Data and shook her head.

"No… Emphasis. Active." Evalyn frowned as she processed the implication. "Daddy, does that mean the stickers made them shut down?"

"I believe it is possible, yes."

"I don't want one anymore. I don't need to shut down." Evalyn assured him, placing her index finger into her mouth. She looked at the watch on her wrist and then back down at the inactive androids. "How long will they be shut down? Are they damaged?"

"I do not know. It is likely that we need to remove the… _Stickers _before taking any additional steps in the attempt to reactivate them." Evalyn shrugged her shoulders.

"So take them off, Daddy." Geordi smiled at the youthful naivety projecting from the simple statement.

"That's what we're gonna try to do first, Evalyn." The chief engineer assured her. Data nodded in agreement.

"Have you seen these kinds of stickers before?"

Evalyn paused, eyes darting back and forth, before she shook her head.

"No. These stickers are new. I like glitter stickers the most." She looked at her shirt and pointed at the lily on it. "My flower has glitter." Seeing as Evalyn had contributed all pertinent knowledge available to her, Data set the girl on her feet and took her free hand into his once more, an action which was becoming increasingly reflexive. Though Evalyn had only been an addition to the ship for not quite fifteen hours, Data had begun to build a program to anticipate and be able to accurately respond to the needs of the small child. _His _child. The idea that her construction was by his hand some forty years from now was such that Data found himself eager to experience. In due time, that is.

Geordi took time to study the device embedded in Ariwyn's neck. Now that he was taking a more proper look at it as an oddity rather than as possible original hardware, the man wondered why he didn't notice the finer details before. There was evidence of tearing in the bioplast around the star; the device was implanted by force, likely used as some kind of projectile. His fingers traced the tears as he frowned. More than that, the bioplast felt almost _charred_. Geordi was positive that the star "sticker" was the reason they were unable to scan them. It was probably either putting out, sucking out, or otherwise radiating some kind of power which was interfering with not only Ariwyn and Elian's technology, but theirs as well.

Data had obviously come to the same conclusions and he had begun to feel, using the hand that wasn't holding onto Evalyn's, at Elian's neck around the device. He was hoping to find where it may be connected underneath the bioplast, so that he and Geordi wouldn't needlessly cut away more than what was strictly necessary to remove the devices. No such luck. Perhaps it was the unknown energy that kept it stuck on; perhaps it worked as a modified magnet. Data's head tilted. Powerful electromagnetic energy could be why they couldn't get any readings.

"Geordi, I believe it is possible that these devices may be emanating some form of electromagnetic interference." Geordi perked up and made a thoughtful noise.

"It would certainly explain why they're deactivated. And, if it's strong enough, why our scanners can't get anything… You're on to something, here, Data." The second officer nodded and then looked down. Evalyn was twisting her hips and watching her ruffled skirt move with a contented smile.

She shouldn't be in engineering, Data noted as he frowned to himself. She had told them everything she knew that was useful, at least all that they _believed _she knew. The question was what to do with her. He still had duties on the bridge, here in engineering, at a number of science labs, and not to mention he'd wanted to look at the vessel in shuttle bay 2. While he was sure he wouldn't be questioned if he elected to bring Evalyn along with him, given the circumstances, somehow the idea of having her at his side all day seemed... unprofessional, to say the least.

The other option he had was to bring her to the daycare center on the ship, as other crew-members with young children did. Evalyn's behavior, thus far, seemed appropriate to a young child, though he wasn't sure how Evalyn would fit in _socially_, should he bring her to the ship's daycare center. She couldn't be unsupervised, but Data needed to solve this problem in engineering without the additional distraction of keeping the smaller android occupied. Bringing her to the daycare would ensure that she was supervised _and _that he could do his work but how would Evalyn cope? He was only a badge-press away, figuratively speaking, but would the small girl understand that? Data communicated his dilemma to Geordi, who hummed in thought.

"Well, she was fine when she was with the counselor, right? There'd be plenty for her to distract herself with, in any case. Not that that seems to be too hard to begin with." He added the last part as a mumbled after thought, a lopsided grin on his face. "And if it doesn't work out, we figure something else out." Data hummed thoughtfully, running through the best and worst case scenarios. He knew that Geordi was right, however, and that all they could do was try.

"I believe I will bring her." Data decided with a firm nod.

"I'll try to get some more answers here while you're gone." Evalyn tilted her head when they began walking away, back out of engineering. She turned her head and pulled her finger from her mouth to wave back at Geordi.

"Bye, Gigi!" Geordi grinned and waved.

"Bye, Evalyn." He responded before returning to work.

* * *

Will Riker frowned at the armor that rested on the table before him. He was in one of the science labs, where a team of science and engineering officers were examining the black metal and fabric. Worf had come with him at the request of the team. The first officer then turned back to observe the latest experiment the team was conducting.

They had yielded some results thus far in determining what the Kzin had been up to before his demise. There had been a weapon, which none of their sensors had found of course, tucked away in between the outer metal armor and inner fabric of the armor's chestplate. It didn't look like a phaser, at least not like any phaser they had seen. It was roughly the size of a tricorder, and made of a sleek smoke-colored metal. There was a rectangular imprint on the left side roughly five centimeters in length.

Science officer Lieutenant Petrikov insisted that Worf be present because she believed a certain amount of force was required in order to open the slot. It's why Worf was wearing the glove of the armor (it was large and loose on him), holding the unknown weapon. When Petrikov nodded Worf pressed down hard on the rectangle, which slowly gave way with a soft click. When Worf withdrew his hand, the rectangle had opened and a spiked piece of metal poked out from the slot. Riker frowned and his brows furrowed. Petrikov took the weapon and gestured for Worf to remove the spiked metal. Worf pulled on the metal, which hummed with power, until it was removed from the gun. Worf held up the device and Will's eyebrows shot up in recognition. It was a seven-sided star. Worf seemed to have the same realization because he grunted.

"The Kzin was an attacker." The security officer noted; his first officer hummed in agreement.

"And, whatever these devices do, Geordi believes it's why we aren't able to use our scanners." And if it worked on the androids, what's to say the same weapon had been used to disable their ship? Will decided he needed to inform the crew that was working in shuttle bay 2 about the significance of the little star-shaped metallic hunks they had found scattered about the ship as soon as possible.

"Geordi may be able to use this weapon, and these… _things_ in engineering." Worf sneered at the star shaped metal, noting small indentations in a close pattern on one side. Riker nodded.

"That's an excellent idea. Mister Worf, please continue to help out the team with anything they might need. Once we're sure that the weapon and its bullets are stable, see to it that they're transported to engineering." Worf nodded and Riker left at a brisk pace. The security officer turned over the unknown device in his hand. The electrical humming had stopped, but he thought that, even through the oversized glove, the device felt warm.

* * *

Evalyn's steps were bouncy and playful as she and Data came out of the turbo-lift and walked towards their destination.

"Engineering is done; what's my routine now?" Evalyn asked, looking upward to Data, who glanced down briefly before responding.

"I am bringing you to the daycare facilities on the ship for the interim. If we are to solve your paradox, I need to be able to tend to my duties. Unfortunately, that would require my being at places that you are unable to follow." Evalyn pouted.

"I like to follow you."

"You are… too little. Would you not prefer to be with those closer to your own age?"

"I want to be with _you_." The girl whined and Data had the impression that tears were a very likely possibility, as they were already swimming in her eyes.

"Should you need me, I will only be a communication away." Once outside the door, Data paused and looked at the upset expression on Evalyn's face. He crouched to her level and placed his hands on her tiny shoulders.

"I will return to retrieve you at the end of my shift. You can be with me at that time and, as I said earlier, I will be close by should you need me before then." Evalyn huffed and shook her head.

"Don't want you to go."

"I apologize, but I must go. I _will _be back."

"Promise?" Data nodded his head.

"I promise." Evalyn sighed but made no more protests, which Data took as his cue to bring her in. He stood and took her hand, walking through the door where a bright myriad of color jumped out at them. Excitable giggling, loud chatter, and squeals interspersed with the occasional cry or two were the sounds that echoed in the daycare room. At least thirty small children from ages 2 to 5 happily immersed themselves in play. Evalyn tightened her grip on Data's hand and moved to hide behind his leg, eyes shifting around anxiously at all the activity surrounding her. While Evalyn hid, Data spoke with one of the civilian daycare attendants. Once assured that they would be able to handle any situation that arose, and that he would be informed if they could not, Data looked back at the child cowering behind his leg. He knelt down again.

"Evalyn, I am taking my leave now. You will be well taken care of here until my return." The girl whimpered and shook her head.

"I don't want to be here! I want to stay with you!" Data sighed, having hoped (in vain) that the arguing was finished.

"We have already discussed this, Evalyn." The girl whined loudly.

"Can I go back with Gigi, Ellie, and Wyn?"

"No, Evalyn, you cannot … I will return soon." The girl rubbed her eyes and whimpered.

"Don't go."

"I must."

"_Please_." Data frowned, conflicted on what to say to soothe her, until the daycare worker stepped in and mumbled in his ear.

"Commander, it might be better to just go. We can take care of her." The man smiled in encouragement and Data nodded.

"Very well. Goodbye, Evalyn, I will return at the end of my shift to collect you." He stood and made his way for the door when Evalyn darted forward and attached herself to his leg.

"_Wait_! I want a goodbye kiss!" She whined desperately. That seemed amenable enough, Data supposed, as he knelt down once more to kiss the crown of her head. Easily prying her from his leg, Data made his exit before Evalyn could elect to argue more.

Once outside the door, Data didn't pause though he found himself wrestling with the desire to return, just to be sure that Evalyn wouldn't malfunction in his absence. No, he had to trust that she would adjust well and that he could successfully intervene if the experience proved too much.

* * *

***These excerpts are from the poem: 'Anecdote for Fathers' by William Wordsworth**

**Let me know what you think! Reviews are an inspiration!**

**~IM**


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